About Us

About Our Team

Dr Julie is the only certified and licensed animal chiropractor in the state of MN that is also a professional natural trimmer/hoof expert. She has spent years studying the intricate details of lameness, hoof anatomy, equine biomechanics, and natural/holistic horse keeping practices. Dr Julie specializes in working with horses that have chronic or difficult lameness issues including; laminitis, navicular syndrome, past injuries/scar tissue, and more. She has studied and practices a wide variety of chiropractic and soft tissue techniques including: TPT, ART, muscle work (cross friction, trigger point, etc), Graston (scar tissue release), Rock tape/kinesiotaping, stretching and strengthening, Masterson technique, and home exercises for clients to practice. Dr Julie is passionate about holistic and natural horse keeping practices, encouraging freedom of movement, limiting reliance on medications and exploring less invasive therapies.

Dr Julie’s background: She began riding and training horses in 1999, showing in 4-H, WSCA, and APHA–western and english pleasure, showmanship, halter, bareback, and some games. She received hundreds of honors at the county level, 2 state championships, and a national championship. She was the Dan Patch Award winner in 2005.

Dr Julie began trimming her own horses hooves in 2004 and decided to attend traditional farrier school in 2005. She has since attended several seminars on natural trimming and spends the majority of her time keeping horses sound and barefoot. She knew she wanted to pursue a career in medicine from an early age, but developed a passion for holistic medicine after seeing dramatic results from chiropractic in her own life and that of her show horse. She graduated chiropractic school in early 2013 and soon after attended post graduate training to receive additional licensure in animal chiropractic. She continues to attend educational seminars regularly and is a voracious reader–her favorite topics include natural hoof care, anatomy and physiology of the horses musculoskeletal structure and hooves, muscle work techniques, rehabilitation techniques, nutrition, and alternative medicine. She loves working with youth, teaching and training, and often volunteers with the 4-H horse project.

Her husband Caleb is retired from the military after serving several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and being wounded overseas. Together we have 4 children, a quarter horse named Boaz, a German shepherd mix named Chloe, and a handful of rabbits. If you’ve known us in the past few years you probably saw Dr Julie either working while pregnant or toting around a little infant!

A Step Above’s Mission Statement, Values, and Goals

Mission Statement: The relationship with a horse has the power to strengthen our relationships with each other, with nature, and with God. Our holistic approach strengthens all of these bonds while restoring the lives of horses and the humans who love them.

Values: The best customer service in the industry, quality education for our staff and clients, and placing the health of the animal as top priority.

Our long term goal is to open a full service equine rehab and chiropractic facility in Minnesota where we use holistic healing methods to treat lameness, hoof problems, and other health issues, as well as to prevent recurring or future issues before they arise. We want to integrate barefoot/natural trimming with some aspects of traditional farrier work, as well as chiropractic, traditional medicine, massage and muscle work, herbal and essential oil therapies, acupuncture, nutrition, and more.

This facility will also provide horse boarding in a more holistic sense, for those horse owners who are looking to keep their horses barefoot and as healthy as possible as naturally as possible. Our dream is to be able to treat everything from heaves to club feet to arthritis holistically. This facility will also host a classroom that will bustle with the activity of ongoing educational classes for horse owners and other equine professionals. We will teach on topics ranging from holistic pasture management to hoof trimming to chiropractic/massage techniques horse owners can use on their own horses.